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MRSC Insight Blog


Posts for Revenues

Utility Taxes: Are You Assessing Them Correctly?

February 18, 2026  by  Cheryl Grant
Category:  Revenues ,  Utilities - Billing and Collection

Cities and towns may impose taxes on utilities operating within their jurisdictions on municipally owned utilities. How are municipalities calculating these taxes, and how can they be sure the taxes have been calculated to the extent local code provides?

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2025 Legislative Updates to the Real Estate Excise Tax Program

July 28, 2025  by  Cheryl Grant
Category:  Revenues ,  New Legislation and Regulations

The real estate excise tax (REET) program was modified by recent legislation, giving cities, towns, and counties more flexibility in how locally generated REET funding can be used.

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How Did Local Ballot Measures Fare in the November 2024 General Election?

December 9, 2024  by  Steve Hawley
Category:  Parks, Recreation, and Culture ,  Transportation ,  Emergency Medical Services ,  Fire Protection ,  Revenues ,  Minimum Wage ,  Law Enforcement ,  Ballot Measures ,  Special Districts

Tax-related initiatives struggled to gain voter approval in the 2024 November general election, and it was a mixed bag for other local ballot measures across the state. 

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Yellow toy dump truck on dollar bills background

Can We Use REET Funds for That?

June 12, 2024  by  Cheryl Grant
Category:  Revenues

REET 1 or 2 tax revenue can be an important source of funds for local governments, but this revenue is restricted and can only be used for certain purposes. Confusion around what constitutes an eligible use has generated many questions for MRSC consultants over the years. 

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Recapping the November 2022 Ballot Measure Results

December 7, 2022  by  Steve Hawley
Category:  Revenues ,  Transportation Finance ,  Ballot Measures

As with many past elections, this past November brought voters over 100 local ballot measures across the state, from libraries to bond measures to levy lid lifts. New this year, however, were several measures involving ranked-choice voting and home rule charter propositions.

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Funding Local Affordable Housing Efforts

August 24, 2022  by  Eric Lowell
Category:  Housing ,  Revenues

It can be difficult for cities, towns, and counties to fund local affordable housing programs, but there are some options available, from taxing options to federal and state grant programs. 

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Pierce County Offers a Model for Distributing Pandemic-Related Assistance Funding

January 31, 2022  by  Leah LaCivita
Category:  COVID-19 ,  Revenues

With just three staff, the Pierce County’s Rental & Utility Assistance Program has distributed $59,100 in overdue rental payments and $14,800 in utility payments to needy households since late 2020. This blog looks at how the program works and what makes it successful. 

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Washington Supreme Court Finds I-976 Unconstitutional

October 16, 2020  by  Oskar Rey
Category:  Court Decisions and AGO Opinions ,  Revenues

This blog provides a brief overview of a recent Washington Supreme Court ruling striking down I-976.

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Locating Good Data for Your Revenue Forecasting

August 21, 2020  by  Mike Bailey
Category:  COVID-19 ,  Revenues

Traditional approaches to revenue forecasting will not be sufficient during the COVID-19 pandemic. This blog post explores where to find good data and get more accurate ways to predict future revenues. 

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Changing Forecasts for Transportation Revenues and Other Impacts of I-976

December 5, 2019  by  Toni Nelson
Category:  Revenues ,  Transportation Finance

This blog post looks at the impact the passage of I-976 will have on transportation revenues, the state's multimodal account, and transportation benefit districts. 

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New Guidance in Accounting for and Reporting Leases

November 4, 2019  by  Mike Bailey
Category:  Accounting ,  Financial Reporting ,  Revenues

This blog post looks at the new standards the Governmental Accounting Standards Board has released regarding accounting for and reporting leases. 

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Tips for Improving Your Grant Proposal Development Process

September 18, 2018  by  Amy Gabriel
Category:  Guest Author ,  Public Works Finance ,  Revenues

From providing feedback on draft grant guidelines to employing an outside consultant, this post offers tips on how municipalities can improve the grant development process. 

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My Can of Coke Costs What?!!!

March 1, 2018  by  Paul Sullivan
Category:  Revenues

Since January 1, 2018, Seattle residents and visitors have found that drinking sweetened drinks cost a little bit more. Legal Consultant Paul Sullivan looks at the city's new sweetened beverage tax, one that is projected to raise almost $15 million in 2018. 

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Ballot Measures Part 1: Affordable Housing Taxes, Revenue Measures, and Low Voter Turnout

November 9, 2017  by  Steve Hawley
Category:  Housing ,  Revenues ,  Ballot Measures

Senior Communications Coordinator Steve Hawley recaps some of the local funding measures in this year’s general election, including the state’s first affordable housing sales tax, the failure of a voted REET 2 measure, and low turnout causing problems for bonds and levies.

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Keeping Up with Inflation: Strategies for Increasing Revenue to Keep Up with Cost Increases

May 31, 2016  by  Shawn Hunstock
Category:  Guest Author ,  Revenues

For the most part, cities in Washington have very little influence on the amount of revenue that is generated from property taxes, sales taxes, and utility taxes. So how can cities keep up with inflation?

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Multimodal Transportation Funds Released To Cities and Counties on April 15

April 14, 2016  by  Toni Nelson
Category:  Revenues

The initial distribution of this new fund should include the first two quarters of the state biennium that were missed (September 2015 and December 2015) along with the March 2016 distribution.

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Small City Perspective: Is State Shared Revenue a Necessity or Burden?

January 15, 2016  by  Randy Hinchliffe
Category:  Guest Author ,  Revenues

Randy Hinchliffe from the City of Waitsburg provides his perspective on dealing with the lack of local control of state shared revenues.

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Tax Changes for Recreational Services and Athletic/Fitness Facilities

December 29, 2015  by  Toni Nelson
Category:  Revenues

Recent legislation has changed the definition of a retail sale and the new change becomes effective on January 1. Here is some guidance on what this change may mean for your 2016 tax report.

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Not to Be Too Alarmist, but, Being a Realist …

January 27, 2015  by  Jim McEntire
Category:  Guest Author ,  Revenues

Aside from locally derived tax revenues, cities and counties with slow-to-no economic growth coupled with higher-than-state-average unemployment can expect scant additional financial help from the State and Federal budgets.

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